The present invention relates generally to a method of forming a laminate or composite compound textile fabric, and more particularly to a method of overlaying a textile fabric layer with at least one other textile fabric layer on a three-dimensional image transfer device, whereby the fabric layers are entangled together and a regular pattern defined by the image transfer device is imparted to the compound fabric.
Woven textile fabrics, including a plurality of interwoven warp and weft yarns, are used in a wide variety of applications, including apparel, home furnishings, recreational products, and industrial applications. Because of the expense associated with spinning of yarns, and weaving of textile fabrics, techniques have been developed for manufacture of nonwoven fabrics from fibrous or filamentary materials. Typically, manufacture of nonwoven fabrics entails creating a web or batt of fibrous or filamentary material, and treating the web in a manner to provide the resultant fabric with the desired physical properties.
The inherent physical performance of a single layer of fabric, whether woven or nonwoven, is constrained within the limits of the basis weight for that material. Should there be a desire for a single fabric layer to have a higher level of performance, a change in the constituent material and/or the mode of fabric formation must occur. For example, in order to fabricate a textile fabric with a better uniformity of yarn coverage, it is generally accepted by those skilled in the art that the yarn count must increase. An increase in yarn count, however, requires that the weaving process have a lower throughput and a corresponding increase in complexity. When a nonwoven fabric is desired to have improved fiber coverage, typically, additional fiber is used in the web construction, additional cards employed, and complicated air-randomizing or cross-lapping equipment incorporated. Again, a deleterious effect on fabric manufacture and relative costs is realized in making such a change in fabric physical performance.
It has been appreciated in the prior art that a fabric material having improved physical performance could be obtained by incorporating one or more layers of fabric into a unitary construction. Relatively lightweight fabrics, which are much simpler and cost effective to construct, but have low inherent physical performance, are placed in face-to-face juxtaposition. In order to form the material into a laminate or composite fabric, a layer of adhesive is interposed at that interface. The adhesive has been typically selected from those forms including an adhesive spunbond layer, adhesive powder dispersion, or the spray application of a liquid adhesive. The resulting laminate or composite fabric, referred to hereafter as a compound fabric, thus exhibits an improved physical performance, however, the adhesive binder adversely affects other physical properties, most notably the drapeability and the porosity of the compound fabric. Further, the selection of the binder adhesive and the mechanism of application is not a trivial task, requiring significant experimentation to obtaining a laminate or composite fabric exhibiting the best balance of performance characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,761, to Sternlieb, et al., attempts to address the issue of forming a composite woven-nonwoven fabric without a binder adhesive by the use of hydroentanglement. The Sternlieb patent discloses various techniques for hydro-enhancing and hydro-patterning fabric, including a hydro-bonded nonwoven and woven fabric composite, but it is believed that due to the limitations in imaging techniques disclosed in this patent, such practice has met with only limited commercial success.
The present invention contemplates a method of forming a textile laminate or composite fabric from a plurality of woven fabric layers, with the method contemplating use of a three-dimensional image transfer device to facilitate efficient and commercially viable use of the method.
Herein is disclosed a method of forming an imaged textile laminate or composite compound fabric, the fabric having a first textile fabric layer comprising a plurality of interwoven warp and weft yarns and at least one other textile fabric layer, the lamination of the fabric layers and imaging of the construct occurring on a three-dimensional image transfer device. The image transfer device has a foraminous, image-forming surface comprising a regular pattern of three-dimensional surface elements.
A first woven textile fabric used in the construction of the compound fabric receives thereupon a second textile fabric. The first and second fabric layers may be of the same or different construction. The juxtaposed textile fabric layers are positioned on the image transfer device, and hydraulic imaging of the fabric effected by subjecting the fabric to pressurized liquid streams applied to a surface of the second woven textile fabric facing away from the image transfer device. By the action of the high-pressure liquid streams, the two textile fabric layers are entangled and the regular pattern defined by the image-forming surface of the image transfer device is imparted to the resulting compound fabric. The aesthetic pattern imparted to the fabric may include an image, which results from rearrangement and displacement of the fabric yarns, to impart a three-dimensionality to the fabric, as well as patterning which results from differential washing of dyes or color from the fabric which corresponds to the pattern of the image transfer device.
It is within the purview of the present invention that an intermediate layer can be interposed between the first and second woven fabric layers prior to hydraulic entanglement on the image transfer device. The intermediate layer can be selected from those fibrous materials exhibiting a high loft property, as typified by a polyester or cotton batting, such that upon lamination and imaging on an image transfer device having an appropriate three-dimensional pattern, a quilt-like laminate is formed. In the alternative, an open mesh scrim can be employed as a reinforcing intermediate layer such that the woven fabrics are able to entangle through the interstices of the scrim layer and form an imaged compound fabric exhibiting low extensibility.
Further, a laminated and imaged compound fabric of the present invention can be treated to form a napped surface. A compound fabric formed by the disclosed lamination procedure results in an entanglement of the constituent fibers composing the yarns. When the imaged compound fabric is subsequently and purposefully delaminated, those entangled fibers are drawn perpendicular to the plane of the original surface and elongated. If a constituent fiber is used in the yarn construction that exhibits crimping upon elongation or stretch, a particularly apparent napped surface is obtained.
The present method has been practiced for imparting an image to polyester and polyester/cotton fabrics comprising polyester and blended polyester/cotton fibers, respectively. As will be appreciated, the technique can be employed for imparting an image to a wide variety of woven fabrics. Standard, low cost textile products can be transformed into high value, three-dimensional fabrics suitable for apparel, home furnishing, upholstery, and other applications. A fabric that is otherwise substantially uniform in appearance can be provided with an aesthetically pleasing pattern, reflecting the three-dimensionality of the fabric and/or color variations therein.